We've come to the halfway point in the Seahawks season. I think all Hawks fans are happy with the possibility of finishing 5-3 in the first half, given the difficulty the schedule looked like it was going to give us before the season started. Now, have there been some frustrations in this first half? Oh, you betcha. That opener in Arizona looks oh so much more winnable now. The angst that the Niner game caused us last week we could have done without. But have there been moments of elation? Oh, I think so. That Green Bay game will be talked about for years to come, usually as a way to beat the Hawks over the head with. That New England game will be remembered as the coming out party for Russell Wilson should he turn into a franchise QB. Ultimately though, as the old saying goes, if if's and but's were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas. Now the Hawks head to the Motor City. The site of the travesty known as Super Bowl XL. Thankfully Jerome Bettis is nowhere in sight. Let's preview the game through the genius of Airplane.

So, anything interesting happen last Sunday? Oh, that's right, the Seahawks came storming back and sent Brady, his hair, and the rest of the Patriots on a very long flight home after an amazing 4th quarter comeback. Needless to say, we were a bit giddy in section 339. It was nice to see Russell Wilson have his best day as a Seahawk in a very pivotal game for where this team can be this season. The defense was a little less than stellar giving up 395 yards through the air, but they made their presence known when it counted by picking off Tom Brady a couple times and getting their first sack on the last drive of the game. By the way, did Brady get a concussion we don't know about? Ol' Tom Terrific apparently can't remember what happens in games since in interviews following he couldn't remember if he was talking smack to Richard Sherman or if Sherman reminded him of it after the game. Tom, just own it. You ran your mouth and Sherman made you pay for it. Now go back to your mediocre AFC East and let the grownups in the NFC dominate the national conversation.

My sincerest apologies for the lack of blog posts the last few weeks. Having an unexpected vacation in the ICU with 3 brain surgeries will do that to you. Thanks so much to many of you for your prayers/thoughts/support over the last few weeks. Very much appreciated. A big thanks to the Hawk Alley crew for the dedicated Sea-Train before the Dallas game. Nice to see the Sea-Train in midseason form. No movie to reference this week as there is plenty to discuss and I couldn't find one that would work. So....anything happen while I was gone? What's that? We became despised nation-wide as a result of the Monday Night game? No, couldn't be. Ok, let's discuss for a minute. First off, does anyone honestly think this would have been one-tenth as big a deal if we were playing, say, Jacksonville, Carolina, or Detroit? Absolutely not. But we played one of the ESPN golden children and as a result we got to hear about it for another week. Now, reasonable people can debate the merits of the call on the final play. If you dared to find pictures other than from the 4-letter network, you'd even see evidence that Golden Tate did have more possession of the ball as they went to the ground. But, again, since it was Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers got his panties in a bunch, only the ESPN camera angles were allowed to show replays across the country.

I don't know about you, but we are more than excited to team up with North Sound Brewing tomorrow for a great Sunday of Seahawks football, food and amazing beer! Where you may ask? What better place than the brewery itself (www.northsoundbrewing.com), the headwaters of hoppy goodness! Oh yeah, NSB pints are also $1 off.

To us, the icing on the cake is that we continue to turn our admittedly selfish pursuit of football and beer into something much greater - supporting North Cascade Youth Football League. As we all know, it's expensive to do anything today, including the cost to parents for kids to participate in sports. We have the privilege to help defray this cost and make the game more accessible to kids. The money we raise goes directly to NYCFL, so thank you in advance for being a part of the local community.

Thanks to our Donors!

The goal of Hawk Strong Tailgate is more than having fun on game days, it's about raising support for and directly engaging local community groups. The fine businesses below donate money, time and supplies to help make this happen.